It is known to provide coupons to consumers in order to attempt to influence their purchasing behavior, for example to entice them to try a new product. Such coupons are typically made available to the general public by mailing coupon packages to large numbers of people, or by including coupons in newspapers. A problem with using such coupons is that there is a possibility of fraudulent use. It may be possible for a retailer to receive cash for coupons even though they did not sell a manufacturer's product. It may be possible for a consumer to exceed discount limitations per consumer by shopping at multiple different stores. A cashier may not be able to carefully follow the rules associated with a coupon, such as rules requiring a purchaser to buy a certain quantity of the product to be eligible for the discount.
Another problem with using coupons or price discounting is an inability to target a specific segment of the market. Instead, the coupons or discounts are provided to a large number of consumers, many of whom have no interest whatsoever in the particular type of product. For example, consumers who do not own pets would have no interest in pet food coupons or discounts; consumers who do not have a baby would not be interested in coupons or discounts for baby food or items; vegetarians would not be interested in coupons or discounts for meat, etc. Thus, a great quantity of advertising is wasted on people who have no interest in the items being offered.
Another disadvantage of the current coupon system is the great expense in having a clearing house through which coupons are physically delivered for redemption. Associated therewith are handling costs incurred by the national store, clearinghouse, and manufacturer. These costs are typically borne by the manufacturer or other distributor of the product. Further, there are circumstances in which a retailer or manufacturer would only be interested in offering coupons to certain consumers, such as to reward repeat purchasers or quantity purchasers, or to entice consumers of competitors products to switch brands. The retailer or manufacturer may have a limited budget and may only be interested in providing coupons to consumers who purchase goods of a certain type, or in a certain quantity. This is difficult or impossible using most or all prior systems.
It is also known to generate and sell mailing lists of consumers who have certain tendencies or who purchase certain items. People who purchase items by mail order quickly find themselves receiving catalogs and information from other retailers who sell similar or related products. Mailing lists are valuable because they provide useful information about consumers, and permit targeted marketing. It would be valuable to be able to collect information about buying habits of particular individuals other than just those who purchase through mail order services. U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,675 (incorporated by reference) discloses a paperless coupon system. Consumers each have a card having thereon a UPC code. The consumers access a terminal and make selections from possible available coupons prior to beginning shopping. A shopping list of coupons is then presented to the consumer. There is a link to check-out stations, and discounts selected by the consumer are subtracted from the consumers total bill. Optionally, data regarding the consumers purchases is captured. U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,212 (incorporated by reference) discloses a system for printing coupons when a consumer purchases a competitor's product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,041 (incorporated by reference) and WO85/01373 disclose systems including terminals which receive magnetic cards, and which dispense coupons available to a particular consumer. The terminals communicate with a host computer, and the system provides for overall limits on a discount throughout the entire terminal system so that a manufacturer can put a maximum cap or limit on a promotion for the entire terminal system. Coupons per store can be limited as well.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,631 (incorporated by reference) discloses dispensed cards which are used for imprinting onto coupons. This reduces the opportunity for fraud.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,109 discloses a coupon dispenser which receives a card having a magnetic strip, which card includes indicia indicating the last time it was used.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,624 (incorporated by reference) discloses coupons having UPC bar codes thereon. The UPCs on coupons presented at check-out time must match UPCs for products purchased before discounts will be applied to a consumer's bill. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,446 (incorporated by reference) discloses scannable coupons. A system including a supervisory computer communicating with store level computers, and providing for targeted special offers was is installed for experimental testing in a joint development arrangement in June, 1994.